


Can You See Me Now?

by daddyoshie



Category: House of Anubis
Genre: Eavesdropping, F/M, Mutual Pining, Season 2, admission of feelings, house of double-cross/house of wires, rated t for cursing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-09
Updated: 2021-01-09
Packaged: 2021-03-13 02:53:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,022
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28646334
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/daddyoshie/pseuds/daddyoshie
Summary: Eddie tries to make a move on Patricia, twice, only to get shut down, twice. He wonders if his gut feeling was wrong, if she didn't actually like him at all. But then he overhears a rather enlightening conversation that confirms what he knew all along.
Relationships: Eddie Miller/Patricia Williamson
Comments: 1
Kudos: 14





	Can You See Me Now?

**Author's Note:**

> Listen. This is just House of Double-Cross/House of Wires from Eddie's POV. I've often speculated what's running through his head during these scenes, and I got this idea in my head, so I wrote this in two days while procrastinating at work. This is really just me trying something out and exercising my writing skills. This has not been beta'd, this went straight from my brain onto the page. Please enjoy.

Once again, Eddie found himself in detention. He had been given the incredibly tedious task of polishing silver, which he just found absolutely pointless and a big waste of time. Why did people need fancy silver dinnerware, anyway? Just use regular dishes and forks, they all worked just the same. Who was anyone even trying to impress with all this old stuff? Just looking at it made Eddie feel pretentious and snooty.

But, he had to admit, polishing dishes was better than shoveling manure. And, he got to be there with Patricia, which he loved much more than he’d ever be willing to admit. He loved every minute that he got to spend with her, if he was being honest. She made him feel lively and strangely warm on the inside, and he almost always found a smile on his face when he was with her; assuming she wasn’t yelling at him, of course.

She was just so fun. Nothing was ever boring with her, and he liked that a lot. And the fact that she wasn’t afraid to mess with him or risk getting into trouble just made her all the more attractive. Having someone to fight with and compete with added so much excitement to his life.

Eddie just loved that fire she had. Of course he was attracted to her. And, if he was right about the chemistry he felt, she was attracted to him, too. That tension had been there since the beginning, and, lately, things had been escalating. They had been flirting up a storm recently. It was wild how much it careened back and forth between love and hate. Everything between them was always intense and passionate. Maybe she actually _did_ hate him; she sure tried to pretend she did. But he didn’t think so. He was about eighty-five percent confident that she liked him, but he wasn’t completely certain.

The only way he’d ever find out for sure was if he made a move. The masked ball had been his initial attempt, and he’d really thought it was going to be successful, but he’d fucked that up royally. However, it seemed like she’d cooled off from that, so now he just had to wait for the right time to try again.

He’d been waiting for the perfect opportunity to actually make this move, but so far, he hadn’t been able to find one. Every time he thought he had a shot, they would either be interrupted, or she would start yelling at him, neither of which exactly got him in the mood to try and be seductive and charming. So he was still waiting. He wondered when exactly that perfect time would come around; he hoped it would be soon.

Eddie was about to reach for another piece of silver when he noticed that Patricia was acting...strangely. She was staring straight ahead, not really looking at what she was doing, and her sprays from the bottle of polish were missing the objects in her hands entirely. It was almost like she couldn’t see at all.

Hang on...maybe she _actually_ couldn’t see.

Eddie knitted his brow in suspicion and concern. “Patricia, are you okay? Are…can you see?”

“What? Yes, of course I can.”

He wasn’t sure he believed her, but he wasn’t going to argue. He nodded doubtfully. “‘kay.” He went to go right back to polishing, but then he watched as she fumbled around blindly, missed every single piece of silver entirely, and grabbed an apple instead, which she then began to polish.

Eddie couldn’t help but laugh. “And now you’re polishing fruit. You really can’t see, can you?”

She put down the apple and turned to face him; at least, she faced where she probably _thought_ he was. In reality, she was staring just past his right shoulder.

“Okay, maybe I’m not exactly twenty-twenty.”

That was an understatement. He moved back and forth and then waved his hand in front of her face to see if her eyes would follow him, or if she would even react at all. He got absolutely nothing. She really couldn’t see shit.

“It’s just an eye infection. I’ve had it before,” Patricia continued, trying to brush it off like it was nothing, which it clearly was not. This amused him greatly. Eddie wondered if she was _completely_ blind right now, or just like... _mostly_ blind.

“Can you see _anything_?” He pointed to himself. “Can you see _me_?”

Patricia squeezed her eyes shut tight, as if she could will her sight back into existence if she tried hard enough. Eddie continued moving back and forth, waiting for the result.

“I can see like a massive blurry blob,” she declared.

Eddie put a hand to his chest in fake gratitude, like he was touched. “Yacker, I think that is the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me.”

Patricia smiled a genuine smile that made Eddie’s stomach do a backflip. Oh, man, if she only knew what a single look of hers did to him. He felt warm from his head to his toes. God, he liked her so much it drove him a little crazy. Actually, the tension that had been running between them for weeks now was driving him _very_ crazy, and it would only be a matter of time before he reached a breaking point.

Then a thought suddenly popped into his mind. He had been wondering when would be the time to make a move, and he realized the time was now. The fact that she wouldn’t be able to look him directly in the eyes gave him a boost of courage; her cutting gaze could certainly be intimidating at times. He briefly wrestled with the quandary of whether or not he _should_ do it; should he really be doing this if she could barely see? But he decided that yes, he was doing this. He was a massive blurry blob, after all, this would be just like they were in the dark, which would make it feel more intimate. And he wasn’t exactly planning on being super subtle about his intentions.

So before his courage left him, he pulled the trigger. It was go time.

“Well, uh…” he shrugged, scooted closer, and threw his arm over the back of her chair, “can you see me now?” The tone of his voice shifted into something more playful, and he gave her a bit of an expectant look.

This time, she was able to look right at him. Not in his eyes, but right at him. She shrugged. “Maybe you’re a little bit less blurry?”

“Oh,” he said rather flirtatiously, moving a little bit closer. “How about now?”

“It’s better. But…”

Eddie raised his eyebrows. “But—” he interrupted, sliding even closer. Her face was mere inches away from his now; so tantalizingly close. “How about now?”

“Eddie, I have to tell you something.”

“Yes, Patricia?” he asked, his voice soft and low to a point where it almost sounded sultry.

Patricia kind of looked like she wanted to say something, but she hesitated, and that was when he decided to go for it, right now. His chair creaked as he slowly leaned in, the anticipation of a kiss already making his heartbeat start to accelerate. He quickly glanced down at her lips, smiling as he moved ever so closer. But just when he was just seconds away from actually kissing her, Patricia put a hand to his chest and pushed him back.

“You should change your mouthwash, ‘cause your breath _really_ stinks.” Then she let out a dry laugh and shoved him away from her back into his chair.

Eddie wondered what she had been about to say to him. She hadn’t been about to admit her feelings, had she? Had he fucked it up? Or was he just really that repulsive to her? Regardless, there was no way he was getting any sort of answer right now.

“Yeah,” he muttered.

They tried to go back to polishing like nothing had happened, but it didn’t erase how stupid and embarrassed he felt.

* * *

Eddie was walking down the school hallway, contemplating cutting class and going back to the house to take a nap instead, when he saw Patricia just ahead of him, heading straight for the drama room. Fuck, did she still have that eye infection? She was going to walk headfirst into a chair or something. Eddie quickened his pace and reached out to grab her shoulders and steady her. “Watch out!”

Patricia aggressively shook him off. “Uh, get lost, weasel!”

Well, that certainly answered that question. “Okay, you can definitely see now.”

“Yep. And you can back off.”

Judging by her tone, she clearly didn’t want to get into what had happened between them. Eddie, on the other hand, did. So he decided to poke the bear and see how she’d react. He was _not_ giving up on her after one attempt.

“Hey, after what happened in detention, I mean, you need looking after, you almost kissed me. Close call, right?” This was, obviously, a big fat lie; they both knew it had been the other way around. Really, he’d made this half-hearted attempt at a joke in order to fully judge her feelings on the situation and see how she would react to those words.

“Uh, I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Ah, so she chose to deny everything. “ _And_ , I was half-blind, so it doesn’t even count.”

What the hell did that even mean, “doesn’t even count”? It hadn’t been _successful_ , because he hadn’t actually kissed her, but an attempt had definitely been made. Did that mean she.. _wanted_ to try again? Go for one that actually _did_ count?

In that moment, Eddie made an executive decision. It was time to officially admit to her that he liked her. He was finally going to put it out there, lay all his cards on the table. He might as well tape a sign to his chest that read “Hey! You’re pretty and I would really like to kiss you.”

“Well, you know, if you want to take another run at it, I’m here. Anytime.”

There it was, out in the open. Eddie felt like his heart was going to beat out of his chest. But the ball was in her court now, and all he could do was anxiously wait for her response. For a moment, he thought she would just start yelling at him again. But then, she didn’t.

“Okay, I’ll tell you what.”

Wait, was she serious? Did that actually work that easily?

“You make the arrangements…”

Oh? He liked where this was going.

“Tell me where you’ll be…”

Yeah, he _really_ liked the sound of this.

“…and I’ll make sure I’m on the other side of the planet, okay?”

Yeah, he should have seen that one coming. But Eddie was a stubborn bastard, and he wasn’t going to give up just yet.

“Look, Patricia…”

As she made a move to leave, he grabbed her hand, and, to his surprise, she stayed. Eddie sighed. He was going to have to be much more open and vulnerable than he’d originally intended to be, which did not exactly feel very comfortable, but he had to give it a shot. He wanted this so badly.

Eddie built up the courage to look her in the eye. “I’ve lowered my force field. _Schzoop_.” He imitated a wall lowering in front of his face, which earned him a very weird look from her. He felt a little silly, but he couldn’t worry about that right now. He exhaled. “All you have to do is drop the act and lower yours.”

He was basically pleading with her to be honest with him and admit her feelings, because in his gut he felt fairly sure she liked him, too. He knew she did. In all their flirting and fighting, he’d gotten that vibe from her. And he wasn’t the sharpest knife in the drawer, but he knew chemistry when he felt it. Now, he had laid it all out on the line, and he had given her the opening to do the same. It was her turn to grow a pair and put herself out there.

Patricia sighed. As he looked at her, he saw the contemplation on her face. For a moment, it actually looked like she was going to admit it. He felt a little hope and then…

“Just grow up and leave me alone!”

Of course. She’d slammed the door shut right in his face. He knew it was too much to hope for. He exhaled. “Fine then. _Schzoop_.” He brought the wall back in front of his face with his hand and then scoffed. “Smell ya later."

Eddie stormed out of the drama room, feeling incredibly frustrated and slightly embarrassed. God, she was so hard to read sometimes. He’d really thought that she’d liked him back and that for once she’d get over her stubbornness. Maybe she was just that much of a coward. Or maybe she really did hate him. Either way, getting rejected after opening up like that just sucked ass, and he felt like a little bit of a fool.

As he started down the hallway, a pen clattered from his pocket down to the floor. One of his good ones, too. He stopped and bent over to pick it up, and he was about to continue along the hallway when he suddenly heard a loud voice from the drama room.

“I mean, the arrogance!”

His ears perked up. It was Patricia. And he didn’t mean to be narcissistic, but based on her tone and the fact that they’d just had a relatively delicate conversation, he guessed that it was him she was passionately yelling about. He decided to get closer, hide around the corner, and eavesdrop.

“You have to ask permission for that sort of thing, don’t you? _Oh_ , but _not him_. I have _never_ met _anyone_ so…” she trailed off in frustration and let out an exasperated sigh.

Damn, he _really_ got under her skin, didn’t he? He couldn’t help but take a little pride in that. He just hoped it was in a good way.

“Wow.” That was Joy. “You’ve got it _bad_.”

Eddie had to stifle a sudden laugh.

“ _Joy_! What?”

“Yup.”

Patricia let out a large sigh. Then, in a voice that was much softer, she asked, “Did I overplay it?”

Eddie’s heart leaped into his throat.

“Only to someone who knows you like I do,” Joy responded. “To everyone else, it looks like pure hatred.”

“Uh, well, _yeah_ , that's the general vibe I’m _trying_ to go for.” Well, she certainly had been trying _very_ hard to project that image. “I _don’t_ want him to see through it.”

Too late.

“Well, it’s working,” Joy said. “Seriously, tell him you like him, otherwise he’s just gonna lose interest.”

“I _can’t_!” Patricia protested. “I mean, I want to say, ‘Eddie, I like you, you know, you’re cute and all that stuff’…but by the time it gets to _here_ , it comes out as, ‘Get out of my face, Eddie you freak!’”

“Yeah, you say that a lot.”

She did, in fact, say that a lot.

“I know.” She sighed. “I like him, like I really do…but, I can’t handle it when he’s nice to me, it j- it just makes me feel like such a horrible person.”

Eddie felt a sudden pang in his heart. He didn’t want her to feel like that, why did she feel like that? They may have fought, and they may have acted like they hated each other, but she was _not_ a horrible person. She was a pretty good person, actually.

“But you’re not a horrible person!”

Patricia sighed once more. “I don’t know what to do.”

“You need to tell him.”

Eddie couldn’t help but give his head a little shake. He wanted to hear more of their conversation, but then the bell rang. To avoid the awkward situation of them coming around the corner and catching him, he turned around and slipped into the stream of people heading for their next class.

He felt a smug little grin make its way onto his face. He knew it, he fucking knew it. She might have tried to hide it, but chemistry couldn’t lie; he saw right through that act. He did enjoy the feeling of being right.

And now he knew something that she didn’t: she liked him, she definitely liked him, confirmed straight from her mouth. It was nice to have solid proof of her returning his feelings, and not just Eddie running on his own speculation. And the best part was that she didn’t know he knew. Suddenly, he had the upper hand. He’d been feeling dejected, but now he’d been given new life.

Eddie wondered why she had tried to fight it so much. Yeah, sure, the whole love-hate thing was fun and flirty, but, after a time, he wanted something more. If he could put aside his worries and admit how he felt, then so could she. 

And Patricia was desperately putting up a front because she was...what, scared? Of what? Surely she’d flirted with other people before; she was far too gorgeous and compelling to not have had some kind of fling or relationship in the past.

Maybe she didn’t actually _want_ anything more; maybe the game was enough for her, and Eddie was being played for a fool. But no, what she’d said to Joy was far too real. There was something there. But there also seemed to be something or another holding her back.

He kept replaying the words over and over and over again in his mind: “I like him...I really do.” He held those words close to his chest, relishing in the way they made him feel like he was floating up in the clouds.

Perhaps there was hope after all.

But, if he really wanted this, if he _really_ wanted to try and get with Patricia, then he still had a lot of work ahead of him.


End file.
